It was expected that after implementation of GST, the next step of Central government would be alteration of Jammu and Kashmir’s special status. Article-370 has been thorn in their flesh since a long time and its abrogation was in their election manifesto and is high on the party’s core political agenda too. Now years after assuming office Modi government is pacing up the process of making India a congress free nation. They have started using judicial routes to abrogate the Article 35A which has most intricate relationship with Article 370. Before pointing out ramifications of its abrogation we must know what Article 370 is all about. Article 370 was included in the Indian constitution in order to satisfy political aspirations of people of Jammu and Kashmir according to which Indian parliament needs state government’s concurrence to extend all other laws to the state and Article 35A of the constitution is a derivative of Article 370, which allows the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly to define who is a permanent resident, who is eligible to vote and work for the state, and who can own land . Thus under this article residents of state live under a separate set of laws, related to citizenship, ownership of property and fundamental rights in the state Jammu and Kashmir, and this is called special status .
In past also many attempts for its abrogation were witnessed in 1956, 1961 and 1970 but petitions challenging the Article 370 were dismissed by courts .The debate going on, started after RSS-linked NGO challenged it by filing PIL in Supreme court on December 2015 on grounds that Article 370 was added to the constitution through amendment under Article 368, i.e., through presidential order and was never presented before parliament, which the court admitted and is likely to hear on this matter.
Let’s take this case into account.If the Article370 is violation of the Article 368 and is unconstitutional then the several other laws that were extended to state through presidential orders also need to repealed .Thus scrapping this article makes all other presidential orders from 1950 onwards, invalid and nullifies all the 41 subsequent presidential orders, making various other provisions of the Constitution of India applicable to Jammu and Kashmir. Prior to insertion of Article 35A, the Governor and the Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir were addressed as the Sadr-e-Riyasat (President) and Wazir-e-Azam (Prime Minister). Its repeal must then lead back to the same arrangement.
Secondly, some argue that Article 370 as gender discriminatory because if a woman marries to non-permanent resident she loses identity but there is no such issue because in a landmark judgment Jammu & Kashmir High Court in 2002 held that women married to non-permanent residents will not lose their rights. Some claim it deprives a particular community from rights.
Frankly speaking all such objections are without substance. The justification behind the attempts of abrogation is nothing? It is a gimmick to dump the Kashmir issue once for the all. With its abrogation people of Jammu and Kashmir would not only lose their citizenship & property rights but it would trigger demographic change that will have negative impact on UNO resolutions that promise “plebiscite”. It is in fact a well planned conspiracy to integrate Jammu and Kashmir completely with India . Jammu & Kashmir has acceded to India on conditions as other there are several other states that enjoy privileges and question arises why only Jammu and Kashmir is on the radar.
Mainstream political parties along with Hurriyat have pressed to oppose any such move aimed at abolishing this article tooth and nail but it is yet to be seen whether they would really rise above their politics to do something for upholding Special status or it would be merely conventional politics. It is testing time for those political parties who have been using Article-370 as election slogan to prove their sincerity .It must not be treated like GST because without any doubt this is the most sensitive issue that needs to be dealt with, by every possible means. Otherwise, if it goes, it would be major setback and can have bad repercussion for the state of Jammu and Kashmir and our identity.
———(The author a student at Kashmir University is a regular contributor of the edit page “Kashmir Horizon”.)
